Weather Forecast

Grand Forks native Dane Montgomery commits to UND

Tom Montgomery is in the school’s Hall of Fame as a baseball player. Scott Montgomery also played baseball. Mike Montgomery was a UND basketball player.

Soon, the family will be a part of the UND hockey program, too.

Grand Forks native Dane Montgomery gave a verbal commitment Friday afternoon to play for the Fighting Hawks in the future.

Montgomery, who had 37 points in 25 games as a sophomore for Grand Forks Red River last season, is Tom’s son and Mike and Scott’s nephew. Dane will play for Sioux Falls U16 this upcoming season.

Montgomery’s commitment comes at the end of a big summer for the 5-foot-9, 165-pound forward.

Montgomery made the U.S. Under-17 Five Nations team, which featured many of the top 2002-born players in the country. He traveled to Slovakia with the team earlier this month, was named one of the captains and tallied two points in four games.

Montgomery said he had phone conversations with other schools but his only visit was to UND.

“It’s unbelievable,” Montgomery said about making his commitment. “I’ve always wanted to play for UND.

“Growing up with them in your backyard. . . the arena is nuts, the fans are great, it’s a packed house every night, they have the workout facilities, the ice, the schooling, everything. It’s an NHL-style college program. The way they do things is exactly like NHL teams. They develop people. They have guys signing pro contracts every year. Hopefully, that’s me one day.”

Montgomery played on a line with fellow UND commit Jackson Kunz and uncommitted forward Mason Salquist for the Roughriders last season. He finished third on the team in both goals (17) and points (37).

But it wasn’t until the USA Hockey National Camp this year when Montgomery figured he had a chance to play at UND.

“I had a pretty good national camp,” he said. “They kind of reached out before that, but they reached out even more after that. Obviously, making the Five Nations team helped. From there, I kind of knew making that team, I could play college. Luckily, UND wanted me.”

There are four Grand Forks players now committed to UND: Montgomery, Kunz, Braden Costello and Judd Caulfield.